Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Embrace The Twist Off?

And then there was this comment from a reader in response to the recent recap on the highjacking of pinot noir:

"I've been known to enjoy a bottle of Meiomi, and I think that it is nice for the price point. My problem, is that I hate the twist off cap, and feel that I am always selling/defending it to my friends for that reason. Convince me that I should embrace the twist off, or otherwise. It certainly loses the romantic quality of the cork popping!"

Thanks for the comment. Have a seat on the couch. Get comfortable. Lie down, even. There you go. Now, where shall we start?

First, glad you've found a wine that combines an appealing experience at a digestible price point. Too bad that it comes with so much baggage. We can come back to why you feel the need to justify your favored wine's closure to your friends in a bit.

Meanwhile, to the task at hand: You're in good company. A lot of people have a hang up with twist-off closures (aka Stelvins). I'm not sure I can (or should) convince you to embrace Stelvins so much as encourage you to place less value on a wine's closure. Here's my personal perspective:

I don't care how my wine is secured in bottle, so long as it's tasty when I pour it into a glass.

We drink wine for many reasons, but they all boil down to wine being a romantic elixir and social lubricant...something to accompany meals, celebrations, or simply conversations. Cork is nowhere in the top 10 reasons we enjoy wine. Taste? Sensation? Effect? Sure. But when was the last time you heard someone go on and on about the pleasures of pulling a cork Never. What matters most is what's in the bottle and who's holding the glasses.

But yours is a concern that can't be ignored: romance, ritual. Cutting and peeling the foil, working a corkscrew's worm into pliable cork, slowly rotating the key further and further down, convincing the cork upwards as you see-saw the leverage...this, this is all foreplay. And you just don't get foreplay when you crack off a Stelvin cap.

While the sound of a cork being pulled at the end of a long day elicits a positive response in my household, it is no substitute for the substance of real romance. Your wife can probably explain that to you better than I can.

So, how can you still get ritual with your screw cap wine? Easy. Buy yourself a sexy decanter. Create your own ritual around the slow pour down the sides of the decanter into a swirling, bubbly puddle of inviting grape nectar. Decanters are beautiful creatures and way more elegant than a bottle, no matter how pretty the label. Besides, that Meiomi is going to be a lot better after breathing for a bit anyway.

So, back to defending your wine choices to your friends. Don't. They don't care. Honestly. And if you do get remarks on screw caps, simply explain that you're turning over a new, environmentally-conscious leaf, saving the cork forests of the world one bottle of wine at a time.